QUESTION: A company that owes some money against completion of a project in Doha is in such worse financial condition that the management is planning for liquidating it. Is the company legally bound to inform the creditors upon initiating the liquidation procedures? How the creditors will know about such procedures? Please advice.
HJ, Doha

ANSWER: According to Article 312 of the Commercial Companies Law, the maturity dates in respect of all company debts shall expire with effect from the dissolution of the company and the liquidator shall, by registered letter, notify all creditors of the commencement of the liquidation, and shall invite them to submit their claims against the company. If the creditors or their places were unknown, the notification shall be published in two local newspapers, of which one shall be in the Arabic language, and on the website of the company, if any. In all cases, the notification to creditors for the submission of their claims shall include a period of grace for such creditors not less than seventy-five days from the date of such notification to submit their claims, provided the publication of the notice shall be repeated during such period after the expiry of one month thereof.
If some creditors fail to submit their claims, their debts shall be deposited with the court treasury, until the claims are received from their owners or the claims are time barred by extinctive limitation.

Leasing property that has defects
Q: We have subleased a building which has some defects. Prior to entering into the contract, we notified the same to the tenant. The tenant said that the defect does not affect the intended use of the property. A lease agreement was entered into for two years and cheques were collected against the rent. Now the tenant issued a notice stating his intention to terminate the contract because of the defect. We have refused to do that. The tenant has filed a case for the termination of contract and also claimed compensation for concealing the defect. Can they hold us responsible for the same?
FG, Doha

A: The landlord shall not be held responsible unless the landlord guarantees to the tenant that leased property is free from defects that may prevent the use of the property. According to Article 603 of the Civil laws, the landlord shall not be liable for any defect permissible by practice or any defect that was known to the tenant at the time of contracting or which the tenant could have detected if he had inspected the leased property with reasonable care, unless the tenant proves that the landlord has confirmed that the leased property is free of such defect or that he fraudulently concealed it.

Free hours not an offset for overtime
Q: Our management does not provide wages considering the working hours. On some of the days, the management will make us work for more than eight hours and on some other days, there will not be any work. While calculating the wages for the month, the management adjusted the free hours with the overtime. Is this legal? How should the overtime be calculated? Please advise.
YJ, Doha

A: According to Article 44 of the Labour Law, if a worker attends the place of work and is willing to perform the work but could not do so for reasons beyond his control, he shall be considered to have actually done the work and be entitled to the advantages accruing therefrom. Such free hours shall not be considered as compensatory for the overtime and it is not legal to offset the overtime with such free hours.
Article 73 of the law and Decision No. 11 of 2005 are relevant on work hours. Ordinary working hours shall be 48/week @8 hours per day. Any extra time should be treated as overtime and maximum work a day including overtime shall not exceed 10 hours. The normal overtime rate is 125% and for off days and holidays the worker will be entitled for 150%. Also the workers excluding shift workers who work between 9pm and 6am shall be paid @150%.

Imprisonment for abusive language
Q: A criminal case is filed against a colleague of mine for using improper words and he received a call from the police. The incident happened in a shopping mall parking lot last week. What is the punishment for such an offence as per law? Is it possible to settle the same? Please advise.
RT, Doha

A: As per Article 329, any person cursing a third party in public through addressing improper words affecting their honour and dignity shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding QR5,000 or both. Discuss with the complainant for amicable settlement.

LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR

According to Article 299, a Limited Share Partnership Company shall be dissolved upon partner’s withdrawal from the company, death, attachment thereupon, declared bankruptcy, or being insolvency, unless the Articles of Association stipulates otherwise. If the Articles of Association of the company is silent on this issue, the Extraordinary General Assembly shall decide to continue the company and the procedures determined for amending the Articles of Association are adopted.
If withdrawal, death, attachment, bankruptcy or insolvency affects all the joint partners in Limited Share Partnership, the company shall be dissolved unless the Articles of Association provides for transformation into another type of company.
Except for Joint Venture companies, the resolution relating to the company dissolution shall be declared through registering in the Commercial Register and shall be published in in two local newspapers, of which one shall be in the Arabic language. The resolution to dissolve the company is not enforceable with respect to third parties except from its date of declaration.
As per Article 304, the company shall upon dissolution immediately placed in liquidation, and throughout the liquidation period, the company shall retain its corporate personality to the extent necessary for the completion of liquidation formalities. The term ‘Under Liquidation’ should be clearly added to the name of the company.
The powers of the directors and the Board of Directors shall cease upon dissolution of the company, but they shall nonetheless remain in the company management and with regard to third parties, they shall be deemed liquidators until a liquidator is appointed. The company bodies shall remain intact during the liquidation period and their powers are limited to liquidation acts which do not fall within the liquidator’s powers.
The company liquidation shall take place according to the provisions of its Articles of Association or as agreed by partners upon liquidation. If no provision or agreement exist on such matter, the provisions of this law shall be followed.
According to Article 307, the liquidation shall be carried out by one or more liquidators appointed by the partners, or by the General Assembly by ordinary majority applicable to company resolutions. If the liquidation was based on a judgement, the court shall define the method of liquidation and appoint the liquidator. In all cases, the functions of liquidator do not cease by death of the partners, declaration of bankruptcy, insolvency or attachment thereupon, even if he was appointed by them. The liquidator’s remuneration shall be fixed in his letter of appointment, otherwise it shall be fixed by the court.
Where there are several liquidators, they shall work jointly unless the appointing party permitted them to work separately. They shall be jointly and severally responsible to compensate the partners or third parties for damage incurred as a result of their acts exceeding the limits of their powers, or from mistakes made in carrying out their work.
As per Article 310, the liquidator shall carry out all the acts required for liquidation and particularly the following: (1) recovering the dues from the third parties towards the company; (2) settlement of the company’s debts; (3) sale of movable property or real estates by public auction or any other manner guaranteeing the highest price, unless the document appointing the liquidator provides for sale in a specific manner; (4) all acts necessary to preserve the company property and rights; and (5) represent the company before the courts, accepting reconciliation and arbitration.

Credit: Gulf times

URL: http://www.gulf-times.com/story/527161/Claims-against-a-firm-planning-liquidation